WantWant ChinaTimes Poll: Tsai's Support Rating Continues Falling, 57.6% Disapproving Tsai’s Foreign Policies

 WantWant ChinaTimes Poll: Tsai's Support Rating Continues Falling, 57.6% Disapproving Tsai’s Foreign Policies

Source: All Taipei Newspapers

Aug. 26. 2016

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)  is battling falling support ratings as she approaches 100 days in office after being tainted by numerous controversies. According to the latest opinion poll conducted by the Taipei-based WantWant ChinaTimes Polling Center( 旺旺中時民調), 41.4% of those surveyed are satisfied with Tsai’s performance, while 40.4% are not. A surprising 63.5% of the respondents stated that they were apathetic about the new government’s policies, with over 80% of those aged 20 to 29 expressing the greatest level of apathy.     

 According to the May 20 opinion poll conducted by the WantWant Polling Center, Tsai’s support rating reached 52%, with only 5.9% of those surveyed expressing disapproval. However, over 40% of those surveyed declined to answer the question, showing that they wanted to wait and see.       

 Liao Da-chi (廖達琪), a professor of political science at National Sun Yat-sen University (中山大學), stated that Tsai’s 41.4% approval rating demonstrated that swing voters (or light-blue voters) who voted for Tsai in the 2016 Presidential Election had gradually turned their backs on the DPP. The main reason for the change could be attributed to the new government’s failure to handle the controversies stirred up as a result of its new policies.   

 Among those aged 40 to 59, Tsai's support rating has fallen below her disapproval rating, while the youth and those above the age of 60 were more satisfied with Tsai’s performance, according the latest survey.   

 Regarding cross-Strait relations, 45.4% believed that the cross-Strait relations would continue to deteriorate, while 45.3% opined that the status quo in cross-Strait relations could be maintained. Ni Yongjie (倪永杰), deputy director of the Shanghai-based Institute of Taiwan Studies(上海台研所), stated that this showed that Tsai was promoting domestic affairs first, seeking a breakthrough in foreign affairs, while hoping to maintain the status quo in cross-Strait relations. That is in line with the current cold peace in cross-Strait relations and the suspension of official cross-Strait exchanges, but not to the extent that “the earth would shake and the mountains would rock,” as Xi Jinping (習近平) warned.

 The Tsai administration is widely regarded as choosing to stand with the US and Japan in order to confront the Mainland. According to the poll, 57.6% of the respondents expressed disapproval concerning her foreign policies. Ni Yongjie stated that this showed that most people did not support confrontations between Taiwan and the Mainland. The Tsai administration had better take this into consideration, Ni added.

 The latest poll was conducted on August 22 to 23 with 807 people successfully surveyed. The margin of error associated with this sampling is plus or minus 3.4 % with a 95% confidence interval.

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